Commodities mostly sank this week, with many hit by sliding equities, demand concerns, ample supplies, geopolitical worries in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as Argentina’s default, dealers said.
However, star performers coffee and cocoa forged significant peaks on frenzied speculative buying interest, they added.
Heading into the weekend, traders digested Friday’s tepid non-farm payrolls data in the US, the world’s largest economy and a major consumer of most raw materials.
OIL: Crude oil prices in New York tumbled to their lowest level since early February, with the market awash with supplies, dealers said.
New York’s light sweet crude on Friday sank to US$97.09 a barrel and London’s Brent oil hit the lowest since the middle of last month.
“Crude oil prices have suffered as of late due to ample supply and weak demand fundamentals,” Inenco analyst Chloe Bradley said.
Commerzbank analysts agreed, writing in a note to clients: “Despite all the sources of geopolitical crisis, there is ample physical supply on the European oil market at present.”
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month had fallen to US$104.85 per barrel from US$107.78 one week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for next month was US$97.30 from US$101.66.
COCOA: Prices were catapulted to a 3.5-year pinnacle at ￡2,028 per tonne in London, on the back of solid demand and intense speculative buying. The key chocolate ingredient has jumped by almost one-fifth in value so far this year.
“Demand remains a primary driver of the market and stronger demand is expected to continue well into next year,” Price Futures Group analyst Jack Scoville said. “West African production continues to be strong and prospects for strong production for the coming crop are good.”
By Friday on LIFFE, cocoa for delivery next month rose to ￡2,019 a tonne from ￡1,984 a week earlier. On ICE Futures US, cocoa for next month nudged down to US$3,196 a tonne from US$3,198.
COFFEE: Prices leapt to a three-month peak of US$0.20740 per pound (0.45kg) on Friday, driven by expectations of a poor crop in top producer Brazil.
The market also zoomed to US$2,139 per tonne in London, the highest level since mid-May.
“The continuingly bleak outlook for the current Brazilian coffee harvest has seen the commodity jump,” IG analyst Alastair McCaig said. “With more disappointing weather expected in the coming weeks, this run could carry on for some time.”
On ICE Futures US, Arabica for delivery next month rallied to US$0.196.90 a pound from US$0.17950 a week earlier. On LIFFE, Robusta for next month rose to US$2,114 a tonne from US$2,018.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased
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